HMS Chevron

HMS Chevron on the River Clyde, 18 May 1945
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Chevron
Ordered:	24 July 1942
Builder:	Alexander Stephen and Sons Limited, (Glasgow, Scotland)
Yard number:	599
Laid down:	18 March 1943
Launched:	23 February 1944
Commissioned:	23 August 1945
Identification:	Pennant number: R51
Fate:	Scrapped at Inverkeithing in December 1969
General characteristics
Class and type:	C-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,900 long tons (1,930 t) standard 2,535 long tons (2,576 t) full load
Length:	362 ft 9 in (110.57 m) o/a 339 ft 6 in (103.48 m) pp
Beam:	35 ft 9 in (10.90 m)
Draught:	10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Propulsion:	2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers, Parsons single-reduction geared steam turbines, 40,000 shp (30 MW), 2 shafts
Speed:	36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) 32 kn (59 km/h; 37 mph) (full load)
Range:	4,675 nautical miles (8,658 km; 5,380 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) 1,400 nautical miles (2,600 km; 1,600 mi) at 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Complement:	186
Armament:	4 × QF 4.5 in (5 in) L/45 guns on mounts CP Mk.V 2 × Bofors 40 mm L/60 guns on twin mount "Hazemeyer" Mk.IV; 2 × single 2-pdr Mk VIII 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon cannon 8 (2 × 4) tubes for 21 in (533 mm) torpedoes Mk.IX 80 depth charges

HMS Chevron was a C-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that was in service from August 1945 to the 1960s. She was scrapped in 1969.

The Royal Navy ordered Chevron on 24 July 1942, one of eight Ch-class "Intermediate" destroyers of the 1942 Programme. She was laid down at Alexander Stephen and Sons, Limited, Glasgow, Scotland, on 18 March 1943, and launched 23 February 1944. She was commissioned on 23 August 1945, too late for World War II. Her first captain was Lt.Cdr. John Fitzroy Duyland Bush, DSC, RN, from 19 January 1945. The yard also built her sister ship, Cheviot.

After the War Chevron was allocated the pennant number D51. On 9 December 1946, as part of the 'Palestine Patrol', tasked with intercepting illegal Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine, Chevron and the minesweeper Providence arrived at the small island of Syrna in the Dodecanese group of Greek islands, to rescue survivors of the coal-fired, ~650 gross tonne Athina Rafiah, carrying Jewish immigrants, which had wrecked on 7 December in Agiou Soassin Bay, on the south coast, while seeking shelter in heavy weather. Most of the approximately 800 Ma'apilim on board had struggled onto the island, some with injuries. "After dark, in heavy rain and a rough sea, they carried out the rescue operation and transported the miserable passengers to a landing ship tank (LST) near the island of Crete. Like thousands of Ma'apilim before them on board nine ships that sailed during the summer of 1946, the Ma'apilim were transported to detention camps in Cyprus."